"Well," he returned, "I own I am incapable of seeing the excellence of your system, and I think the Church must indeed possess miraculous powers, if it convinces you of the necessity, or even expediency, of making the marriages of ill-assorted couples indissoluble. I am sure you never could persuade our Colymbians of your superiority in this respect."
"I have little doubt of being able to do so," I replied, "if your benighted countrymen would accept the religion and submit to the mild sway of the Church of England—the purest and best of Christian Churches."
I will not record the contemptuous manner in which Julian talked of our venerable ecclesiastical establishment; but though I felt extremely annoyed by his remarks, I made allowances for him, as he was, with all his civilization, learning and refinement, nothing but a heathen.
He soon returned to his favourite theme of vaunting the superiority of Colymbian ways and institutions over those of all the world besides; not excepting those of the unknown country, which were held by most of his countrymen to be the model for universal imitation. He was a positivist and concerned himself only with things that could be seen or proved, and therefore he thought very little of transcendental geography, which he said might be good enough for the lower classes and for women, but was not worthy the attention of a man of sense.
"I am surprised," he continued, "that you do not see the great superiority of the Colymbian institutions in regard to the relation of the sexes. Here, when a man and a woman take a fancy to one another, they know exactly with what and with whom they fall in
